Future Collectibles – 2004 Ford SVT Mustang Cobra Mystichrome

Some cars become collectible for how they run. Others achieve this status for how they look.On occasion, cars become prized for a combination of both show and go. That’s the case with the 2004 SVT Mustang Cobra Mystichrome.Shed the skin from this Cobra and you’ll find a Mustang tuned by Ford’s Special Vehicle Team.The power output, while notable, was arguably not as interesting as how that power was achieved.SVT extracted 390 horsepower and 390 lb. ft. of torque from the 4.6 litre engine.They did so using something that had never been seen before on a Ford V-8 – a factory installed supercharger.The Eaton blower dictated an iron block (added muscle requires additional strength).This also added weight.However, the flywheel was aluminum, offsetting some of the roughly 200 lb. gain, and allowing the motor to rev quicker.Linked to a six speed manual transmission, the Cobra proved to be both quick (0-60 in 4.9 seconds) and fast (13.4 seconds for the ¼ mile @ 109 mph).It was also noticeably more eager to tackle twisty roads than the previous Cobra, thanks to a heavily reworked chassis.

As welcome as the mechanical makeover was to Ford fans, it was the combination of this added venom and the Cobra’s new look that elevated the car a notch on collector’s radar.It wasn’t a matter of the shape itself: in its 11th and final year in 2004, the fourth generation Mustang’s design was aging, and would be promptly overshadowed by the retro-styled, fifth generation cars that followed.What made these Cobras unique was the color of the skin they were in.ChromaFlair light interference pigments in the DuPont Mystichrome paint acted like a prism on the Mustang’s exterior, shifting the car’s visible color as your viewing angle changed.The range of hues ran from green to blue to purple and black.

This wasn’t Ford’s first foray into the world of color morphing paint on Mustangs.The 2004 Cobra was preceded by a 1996 edition with Mystic paint.Aside from the colors, the differences between ’96 and ’04 were two-fold.Alan Eggly – Ford’s color and trim director for North America – explained, “..just as the handling and acceleration have dramatically improved since 1996 on the SVT Mustang Cobra, so has the color-shifting technology.For 2004, we were able to take Mystic paint and put it on steroids.”

The other difference was that the same, visual effect was carried out on the inside for ’04.Chromaflair was substituted for traditional leather tanning pigments.The end product was front and rear seat inserts (and the steering wheel wrap) that mimicked the color changing effect of the exterior paint.

Ford limited production of the Mystichrome appearance package to just 1,000 Cobra models (coupes and convertibles) for 2004.The production cap seems likely to seal the future collector appeal of these cars as they age, giving them solid credentials in the each of the traditional triumvirate for collectible cars: looks, performance and rarity.